Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 24:

After a long phase of lonesome wait, today was a day of contentment for Nandankanan’s sole giraffe ‘Khushi’ as she got herself a new mate.

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Odisha’s famed Nandankanan Zoo today received its latest guest in giraffe ‘Joy’ who was brought here from Kolkata’s Alipore Zoo.

The male giraffe was brought here as part of an animal exchange programme – in which four tigers were sent to Alipore Zoo in exchange.

Five year old ‘Joy’ was brought here in a custom built container based on a low-bed trailer from the Kolkata based zoo under supervision of an eight member team led by assistant director of Nandankanan Zoological Park.

“We started our journey from Alipore at about 11.45 AM yesterday and reached here today. The entire route had been surveyed earlier to avoid any accident given the height of the animal. The giraffe was offered food and drinks on its way to Nandankanan,” said the assistant director of the zoo.

“He was named Joy in Alipore Zoo. We haven’t decided if we will retain the name or we would give him a new name. He is settling down here and has started getting along with Khushi. We hope they will bring in new additions to the zoo soon,” he added.

As per latest reports from the zoological park, both giraffes are getting along quite well. Zoo authorities already have a breeding programme in place for both.

Notably, Khushi had been procured from Sanjay Gandhi Zoological Park in Patna as part of an animal exchange programme too. She was brought to Nandankanan Zoological Park on July 12, 2012 when she was only a year old. That was the second attempt to bring a giraffe to the zoo after a mishap in 2008, in which a giraffe from Alipore Zoo died of electrocution on its way to Bhubaneswar.